Santa Croce Cathedral

Forlì Cathedral, one of the symbols of the city’s religious and civil history, has been known since the 10th century.

A large fresco in the apse of the presbytery, painted in 1863 by Pompeo Randi, illustrates the Invention and recognition of the Holy Cross to which the church is dedicated.

In its long history, the Cathedral has undergone several alterations.

Rebuilt after a fire in the second half of the 12th century, it was completely renovated in the 15th century and consecrated in 1475.

A few decades earlier, a miracle had occurred in Forlì that still today makes this church particularly dear to the people of Forlì. On 4 February 1428, a school near the cathedral was completely destroyed by a fire that left standing only a shred of wall with a paper image of the Madonna, later called Madonna del Fuoco, who was worshipped in that school. Acknowledging the prodigious event, the citizens of Forlì in procession immediately brought the image to the Cathedral, first placing it in the chapel to the right of the presbytery, where the baptistery is today, and in 1636 in the new artistic chapel that was dedicated to her with the dome enriched by the works of Guido Cagnacci and Carlo Cignani. Still today, the inhabitants of Forlì come in large numbers to pray to their patron saint, especially during the novena in preparation for the feast that is solemnly celebrated on 4 February each year.

In the 19th century, the Cathedral was almost completely rebuilt and consecrated on 1 October 1890.

In 1944, during World War II, the bell tower of the Cathedral, undermined by the Germans, collapsed, destroying part of the presbytery, the sacristy and the chapel of Our Lady of Fire.